AUGUSTA – The state needs to take an extra measure to find missing seniors, the House voted Wednesday.

After debate, the House passed LD 769 89-54 to establish a missing senior citizen alert program, sponsored by Rep. James Campbell Sr., R-Newfield. The bill next goes to the Senate for a vote, and then back to the House for final consideration.

According to the bill, the program would target people older than 60 “whose disappearance poses a credible threat to the safety and health of the person.”

Once an alert is issued, it will be sent to media outlets instructing people to contact the person’s local law enforcement agency.

The prevailing vote came after the majority of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted the bill “ought not to pass.”

Rep. Patricia Blanchette, R-Bangor, and Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, both on the committee, said they worry about their elderly relatives being lost. The bill, Blanchette said, doesn’t cost much and gives people a sense of peace.

“They (senior citizens) suffer from memory loss and they wander,” Blanchette said during the debate.

Rep. Richard Sykes, R-Harrison, spoke against the bill. At no point during the public hearing did someone say there was a problem finding missing senior citizens, so he said the bill wasn’t necessary.

After two speakers referred to the amber alert for children, Sykes responded, “The amber alert is specifically for children who are kidnapped or taken away.

In all the testimonies we heard, there was no instance of inappropriate or inadequate response (to missing seniors.)”

The bill, he said, will fiscally impact county government by using sheriff’s offices’ resources.

Rep. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, also opposed the bill.

The testimonies “put my mind at rest that an additional layer wouldn’t add any significant credibility or value to the search,” she said.

Sykes and Haskell are both on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

Gerzofsky, however, said he thought the measure was needed.

“If it was my mother, I would ask them to elevate that search,” Gerzofsky said.